Carl Erik Rinsch, the director of the film 47 Ronin, has been accused of defrauding a popular streaming service of $11 million, according to the Southern District of New York’s US Attorney’s Office. Although the court documents do not specify the name of the service, an earlier report by The New York Times suggests that it is Netflix. In 2018, Rinsch pitched a science fiction series titled White Horse to several streaming platforms, including Amazon, Apple, HBO, Hulu, Netflix, and YouTube. According to The Times, Amazon had initially won the bidding war, but Netflix’s former VP of Original Content, Cindy Holland, contacted Rinsch over the weekend and offered a more substantial deal, including the opportunity to create a director’s cut.

The US Attorney’s Office stated in its announcement of the indictment that Netflix paid $44 million for the development of White Horse, later renamed Conquest, between 2018 and 2019. A portion of the funds was used to reimburse the project’s initial investors. Notably, Keanu Reeves, the star of 47 Ronin, invested his own money in the project after Rinsch encountered issues with 30West, one of the project’s first investors, due to a missed deadline. Between late 2019 and early 2020, Rinsch requested additional funding from Netflix, and the company provided him with an additional $11 million to complete the series. However, Rinsch never finished the show, and Netflix accused him of utilizing the funds for “personal and speculative purchases of securities.”

According to the allegations, Rinsch lost a significant portion of the $11 million due to trading but recovered his losses and earned more by investing in cryptocurrency. He then went on a spending spree, using almost $4 million to purchase furniture and antiques, $2.4 million to buy five Rolls-Royces and one Ferrari, and $652,000 on luxury watches and clothing. The indictment also claims that Rinsch spent over $1 million to sue Netflix for additional compensation. As reported by The Times, Rinsch alleged in his lawsuit that Netflix breached its contract and owed him several payments totaling $14 million. During this time, Rinsch allegedly exhibited erratic behavior, including claims of discovering the secret mechanism of Covid-19 transmission, mistreating the show’s staff, and accusing his wife of plotting to assassinate him.

Conquest was intended to be a story about a genius who creates a human-like species known as Organic Intelligent, which are deployed worldwide to solve problems and provide humanitarian aid. However, these OIs supposedly conceal a darker nature. Rinsch has been charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering, each carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Additionally, he faces five counts of engaging in monetary transactions involving property derived from specified unlawful activity, each carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years.